Owen's Bold Plan: Bench England's Elite Forwards to Win World Cup Glory

Michael Owen has thrown down a provocative tactical blueprint for Thomas Tuchel, suggesting the England manager should bench his finest attacking players and unleash them as second-half weapons in the World Cup's gruelling conditions.

The Three Lions dispatched Costa Rica 3-0 on Wednesday in their final warm-up fixture before next week's Group L opener against Croatia. Gordon, Bellingham and Madueke lined up in the attacking positions behind Kane, with Madueke stepping in for the injured Saka. Both Gordon and Bellingham have impressed in their auditions to edge out Rashford and Rogers respectively for starting berths.

But Owen cares little for the conventional selection debate. Instead, he's advocating for something altogether different: wholesale rotation at every opportunity.

"If I were Thomas Tuchel, I would be literally changing the hell out of those positions constantly," Owen told World Cup odds. "I don't care if somebody scores a hat-trick in the first game; they still get substituted at half-time and you put on the next three."

His reasoning centres on the tournament's brutal physical toll. With heat and fatigue set to be England's greatest enemies, Owen believes depth matters more than consistency.

"We're so strong in those positions and what's going to win this tournament is freshness," he explained. "What's going to kill us is the heat, tiredness, fatigue so I don't care who starts there."

Owen's most radical suggestion? Flip the script entirely. Rather than starting his most talented forwards, Tuchel should reserve them for the closing stages when opponents are on their knees.

"If Thomas Tuchel has got his idea on who are the best three players to play in behind Harry Kane then I would put them all on the bench and bring them on in the second half," Owen said. "That's even more important in the first half if you do what I think we should do and just change the hell out of them all the time. I'd be giving them no more than 45 minutes every game because if you're going to play six players in those positions across the game then I prefer the best ones to be playing at the end when the opponents are fatigued."

The theory is sound: six attacking rotations across a match, with your sharpest blades reserved for when defences crumble.

On the tournament's broader contours, Owen sees France as the outstanding favourites. "When you look at their players, they're miles better than anybody else in terms of individuals," he noted. "If they play as a team and they're the best team, they're probably the likeliest winners."

England, by Owen's reckoning, will reach the quarter-finals or semi-finals at best. But he's harbouring a hunch about Germany's prospects.

"I have a sneaky feeling that Germany could do well," Owen added. "I think they could do well. So France would be my pick, England to get to the quarters or semis and Germany to be the dark horses."